Accelerating the Net-Zero Transition - Can CCUS Keep Up?

Introduction

This blog relates information about CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage) and from a panel discussion with participation from three major research universities in North America (and guests), with locations in important energy producing areas:

University of Alberta, Canada
University of Texas – Austin, U.S.
Tech de Monterey, Mexico

The University of Alberta is sponsoring these talks, along with the other institutions mentioned. This is my second blog reporting on this subject.

The first talk gave a lot of general information about what CCUS is and what it might be able to do in the future..

There was a lot of talk about carbon capture and sequestration in the past, which was often dismissed as uneconomic, unreliable or environmentally dangerous (a way to extend fossil fuel usage). Recently, the whole idea has become much more mainstream. I don’t know how much the situation has really changed, but it is worthwhile listening to these more recent claims, for context.

The first talk focused on it the use of CCUS to use de-carbonize some key industrial process, notably those which produce a lot of CO2 ( steel, chemicals and cement are the primary culprits). This second talk expanded on these uses and added some additional information on other likely purposes for CCUS. A key question was how ready the technology is, to actually play the role in net-zero carbon emissions that is hoped for it.

The Case for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage

Before getting to the details of the talk, I want to outline, in thumbnail form, the case for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, that I have gathered from these talks and other sources:

The human race continues to have an insatiable desire for energy. However, its main way of feeding this desire creates increasing levels of greenhouse gases, which are endangering the planet’s climate.
Renewables are promising, but there are also problems.
- They will take decades to be rolled out at the scale needed to take over the task of supplying all this energy. As well as producing the huge amount of energy needed, there is also the need to store this energy, as the sun doesn’t always shine, nor does the wind always blow.
- They also have potential environmental issues, related to sourcing raw materials for solar panels and wind generators, and dealing with these products after their useful life is over.
- There is a limit to how many rivers can be dammed. Plus, the damming of rivers also creates environmental problems.
Nuclear energy is another alternative, but it has its own problems.
- Fission reactor accidents are an ongoing concern.
- Mining uranium creates environmental damage.
- Storage of radioactive wastes is still a problem.
- The risk of nuclear weapons proliferation has not gone away.
Game-changing technology, such as nuclear fusion is possible, but as we have all learned it tends to be “35 years in the future” and has been for a long time.
Conservation and increased energy efficiency are partial solutions, but in a world that is still committed to constant economic and population growth, they seem like treading water. Gains in efficiency are quickly offset by increasing population and levels of consumption.
All this means that fossil fuels may be hard to abandon.
- There are are still a lot of fossil fuels locked up in the Earth, that have the potential to continue to provide vast amounts of energy, needed by societies around the world.
- In addition, there is a huge infrastructure (technological, financial, and political) that has grown up around this industry over the past two centuries. Unravelling this infrastructure won’t be easy or cheap. It may even be dangerous, as producer countries and regions are not likely to go “gently into that good night”.
- If the technology to capture carbon dioxide safely, cheaply and permanently is perfected, many of these problems might be averted. Renewables could be developed and perfected at a sustainable pace, nuclear energy could be improved and the “35 year future” for breakthrough physics might even have time to arrive.

The Panel Discussion

Note that I have kept my review of the discussion in point form. I can’t guarantee that I got every detail right, but the overall essence of the talk is here.

General Observations and Context (Dr. Rick Chakaturnyk, Engineering professor, University of Alberta)

Dr. Chakaturnyk is in the Faculty of Engineering, with a particular interest in Reservoir Geomechanics.
He was involved in the Weyburne CO2 storage facility development, including devleoping standards for CO2 storage.

He noted that the panel discussion will feature “opportunities that haven’t yet been realized”. Among these were development of the hydrogen economy. CCUS has a role in this.
- Is it ready for the scale required?
- Is there sufficient storage capacity?
- Is there sufficient transport capacity?
- Is the technology for conversion to different fuels being developed?
Some challenges include:

Cost effectiveness.
Safe storage, especially given the huge volumes needed.
The competition for pore space (i.e. there are many other technologies competing for the underground storage space, such as such as CO2 storage and geothermal development).

He noted that there are already several Canadian projects up and running, in the 1 to 2 megatons per year range. Much more will be needed, especially as new projects come into use that will also require storage.
There are many aspects involved in managing all this, including the development of inter-related industrial hubs, the need for transport (e.g. pipelines) and the requirement of much more storage space.

Edmundo Perez, Tech de Monterey, Mexico (data science)

Among other things, Edmundo Perez of Tech de Monterey in Mexico, is a data science expert with extensive experience in developing computer simulations.
His talk featured the sub-title “Timing, Scale, Money”.
He began by emphasizing the need for CO2 capture, which is basically driven by concerns over global warming. This represents a huge challenge for sustainability.
He also noted that in his opinion, we will have to “not use” much of the fossil fuel resource base, even with successful carbon capture technologies.
CCUS has come up in many “net zero” technology plans, but he noted that the level of development needed for this transition is huge. He estimated that carbon capture would have to scale up by about a factor of 4, every year, in order to reach net-zero by 2050 via CCUS alone.
This CCUS development would be needed to be implemented for a wide variety of purposes and processes, such as:
- Cement production.
- Iron and steel production.
- Power generation (carbon capture at fossil fuel generating plants).
- Chemical production, including ethanol and fertilizers.
- Hydrogen production, via the process of stripping carbon from natural gas, freeing the hydrogen for various purposes (e.g. combustion, fuel cells).
- Transportation that can’t be fully electrified (e.g. large trucks and airplanes).
This is far from the situation today. Development has been slow and spotty on a global scale. A great amount of acceleration is required.
As of now, there is no overarching policy for this development and most applications are not yet mature, in terms of commercial markets.
A factor in this slow roll-out of CCUS technologies, is the strong competition from solar and wind power generation, which have had huge cost reductions over the past decades. In addition, to most of the public they have an advantage in political appeal.
CCUS does have a reliability advantage, but that is expected to decline as battery and other energy storage technologies improve.
In all of these cases (e.g. CCUS and energy storage) full implementation can take decades, given the costs. That said, improvements in human health made possible by the adoption of these technologies should be factored into the economic picture (e.g. from reductions in many other pollutants as well as general amelioration of negative health outcomes likely to result from unimpeded global warming).
In addition to CCUS, he noted that technologies to remove CO2 from the atmosphere would be a tremendous breakthrough.

Tim Winchar (Shell engineer)

He is an engineer, who has extensive experience in CCUS projects, including the Quest carbon capture facility near Edmonton (a heavy oil upgrader that captures and stores CO2 produced in the upgrading process), and the Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan (a coal-based power plant that uses carbon capture to sequester much of the CO2 produced).
Quest has stored over 5 million tonnes of CO2, while Boundary Dam has stored over 4.2 million tonnes.
He noted that Shell is doing other things to reduce CO2, not just CCUS. However, there are some industrial processes where carbon capture appears to be the only route to “net-zero” (e.g. producing cement).
However, CCUS will be needed to meet the various international agreements that have been made.
CCUS will create a great number of jobs developing and implementing the technology and help areas to retain others by allowing the world to continue using fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas.
He also notes that a carbon tax will be essential to speed the process along.

Mike Monen (Saskatchewan engineer and geoscientist)

He is also an engineer and geoscientist, with extensive experience in carbon capture and storage.
This includes both the Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan and the Weyburn project in that same province. The Weyburn project has sequestered some 35 million tonnes of CO2. It injects this CO2 underground as part of an enhanced oil recovery project.
Based on his experience, he emphasizes that the technologies are available and that they work. However, continued government incentives are essential, at least for the present.
The increase in the GHG tax from $50 per ton to $170 per ton is an example of this. Part of the tax money thereby collected can go into further research.
That said, some of the improvements being made are driven by “bottom-up” processes, rather than being government driven.
In a global context, attaining net-zero CO2 emissions is a difficult job. Abatement of CO2 will be required for decades, especially as countries like China and India ramp up their energy usage (thus increasing their CO2 production).
These two countries had the highest growth of CO2 in the 2005 to 2020 period. The rest of the world’s counties are also bound to want to increase their use of energy, as part of their economic development.
CCUS implementation has an important political dimension, due to the short time scales involved and the political and economic power of the countries involved, both producer and consumer.
Looking at the Boundary Dam power plant as an example, he related that CO2 has dropped from 1100 tons per gigawatt of power produced to only 250 tons, a reduction of about 75%. That puts it on par with natural gas, or even somewhat lower.
Boundary Dam used lignite coal, which is a carbon intensive source. Other projects that used higher grades of coal or other fossil fuels would be able to produce even more impressive numbers.
Some other industrial processes, such as cement production, would be even easier to de-carbonize via CCUS.
He believes that there has been a lot of misinformation about net-zero and CCUS. For example, claims that an immediate transition to renewables is possible, though in reality he thinks this is not practical.
He believes that a primarily renewables electrical grid would be unstable and unreliable, at least until the storage problem is solved. CCUS would provide a more reliable clean base-load. This will entail “cleaning up” fossil fuels to become abatement fuels, via the capture and storage of CO2.
The involvement of the oil/gas industry will be crucial, as they have the best knowledge base about storage, due to their extensive experience with underground reservoirs.
In addition, enhanced oil recovery via CO2 injection can help to clean up the oil or gas production, which can then be used for CCUS power production.
Underground storage is the key to these developments, something that he says is in abundance in North America (especially Alberta).
He also feels that “the hydrogen economy” has lots of issues, but is largely possible. It would likely require the use of CCUS (e.g. stripping off carbon from natural gas to produce “blue hydrogen”). Producing all hydrogen from renewable power is still a long way off.
In summary, he says that we should use the technology we have now (e.g. CCUS), because waiting for breakthrough technologies is not feasible. It is unpredictable and will take too long.

And here is a description of a (relatively) carbon-emission reduced adventure, which you can buy on Kindle (also carbon-emission reduced, compared to paper).

A Ride on the Kettle Valley Rail Trail: A Biking Journal Kindle Edition

by Dale Olausen (Author), Helena Puumala (Editor)

The Kettle Valley Rail Trail is one of the longest and most scenic biking and hiking trails in Canada. It covers a good stretch of the south-central interior of British Columbia, about 600 kilometers of scenic countryside. British Columbia is one of the most beautiful areas of Canada, which is itself a beautiful country, ideal for those who appreciate natural splendour and achievable adventure in the great outdoors.

The trail passes through a great variety of geographical and geological regions, from mountains to valleys, along scenic lakes and rivers, to dry near-desert condition grasslands. It often features towering canyons, spanned by a combination of high trestle bridges and long tunnels, as it passes through wild, unpopulated country. At other times, it remains quite low, in populated valleys, alongside spectacular water features such as beautiful Lake Okanagan, an area that is home to hundreds of vineyards, as well as other civilized comforts.

The trail is a nice test of one’s physical fitness, as well as one’s wits and adaptability, as much of it does travel through true wilderness. The views are spectacular, the wildlife is plentiful and the people are friendly. What more could one ask for?

What follows is a journal of two summers of adventure, biking most of the trail in the late 1990s. It is about 33,000 words in length (2 to 3 hours reading), and contains numerous photographs of the trail. There are also sections containing a brief history of the trail, geology, flora and fauna, and associated information.

After reading this account, you should have a good sense of whether the trail is right for you. If you do decide to ride the trail, it will be an experience you will never forget.

Amazon U.S.: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Amazon U.K.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01GBG8JE0

Amazon Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01GBG8JE0